-28 GET LOST

Picture of my client Glen and myself going over his Clean & Jerk on video. Glen you are looken fit these days brother! Keep up the fantastic work!

FILTHY 50

50 Box 20"

50 Jumping Pull-ups

50 KBS 1pd/1.5pd

50 Walking Lunges

50 K2E

50 Push Press 45#

50 Back Extentions

50 WBS 20/14#

50 Burpees

50 Double Unders

TIME = 17:58PB

My headache just went away. Again hit the wall on 'bum-bada-bum....Wall ball shots and Burpees! First time I have ever hit 50 DU's inder huge fatigue. I know I can knock off more time on that brutal couplet section!

Decided to jump in with three of my clients Todd, Andrea and Neena at 12pm because I missed my morning workout. Not my original plan for the morning, but got a swet workout in!

Way to push the intestiy this moring you guys! You all chose the right reps.
Speaking of the RIGHT reps and PROPER INTENSITY.
I was talking with my client Andrea after the workout about reps/required and intensity....think of it this way; if your top athletes in your gym are doing some low times for a specific workout, and your time is double that, then alter the required reps to match the intensity it takes to get those top times :-) Put it this way, top athletes have to work hard to get their times, their heart rates are high, lactate threshold is high and they have little rest without form breaks. All this equals the Proper hormonal release and positively more effective than work done over 30min with a sustained heart rate and lower intensity not improving your lactate threshold. So it is good to alter your reps to find the proper Intensity as this will pay off vegas style in the future!

If any of you out there are training the next few days, choose one of your larger named WOD times, now look at the top athletes male & female in your gym or other gyms; analyse the two times taking off the appropriate reps needed to hit those top athlete times! Your goal now is to friggen "bring it" with some serious intensity. No need to hit required reps to improve if your not ready for those reps:-) This is the path I chose and it helped me :-)

If you guys have questions or want some help email me: brandtster@hotmail.com

WINTER WHITE OUT!

The weather has hit Lethbridge right in the nards! It is absolute craziness!

Well I am at week 6 of 12, the half way point in my programming. My programming is about inceasing my weaknesses and testing a CF Met-Con workout.

Is it hard to program yourself?.....oh yes because you can take the easy way out every time! One of the ways I choose to make this not happen is to keep solid stats so the next time I have the knowledge to hit the right intesity.

I have improved in all my stats & Named CF Met-Cons and I pretty stoked about that! Now comes phase two, more big lifts and Oly lifts (YES!)

How am I marking my progress? How do YOU mark your progess?
*I am keeping rep stats on my relative strength work which all have improved big time
(e.g strict pull-ups, push-ups, lunges)
*I am keeping notes on workout stamina, post recovery, loads lifted, flexibility improvements (e.g. I use the yoga block in many of my movements & now have either rotated the block from tall to sideways or taken it out completely).
*I have also been monitoring nutrition, body weight and tape measurements. (e.g I started day 1 weighing in at 189# and today my half-way point I am 181#)

I have focused my training to many movements that are specific to my needs/goals as you have seen in my past posts ( the key here is specificity).
Some of my goals are in general terms: What are YOUR Training goals?

Increased Flexibility (yoga and stretching)
Mental Clarity (yoga and meditation)
Isometric Strength (muscle tension without movement)
Increased anterior/posterior strength (think bridging, KBS, pull-throughs, hip thrusts)
Dynamic & Speed Strength (muscle tension & joint speed. plyometrics, creativity in exercises)
Relative Strength (move your body weight)

When you put this all together, SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY is the outcome.
Is your Program tailored to YOUR needs/goals?
If NOT I can help you out with this :-) email me at: brandtster@hotmail.com

For the next 6 weeks I am placing in an Olympic Lifting Day and small Met-Con workout post oly lift. The Met-Con will involve a couplet of one Relative Strength skill (e.g. burpees) and the Oly lift I am training that day (e.g. Snatch).

Check out this wicked video! The Human Body is absolutely amazing! I love the quotes in this vid!

Holy Crap I am sore!

Super Sets = Couplets "Legs" with Singles "Back"

Complete 2 Rounds of each Super Set A,B,C,D Round 1 / A,B,C,D Round 2
Goals today: Match Pull-up reps and keep solid form on Lunges

A.)
Legs: 25reps Db Split Squat/leg; rest 30sec (15reps with 25# drop set 10reps free)
Legs: 25 Goblet Squats (40#)
Back: AMRAP strict Super Wide Pull-ups 12 /12

B.)
Legs: 25 One Leg Speed Skater; rest 30sec (no leg touch on ground, high knee drive)
Legs: 90 Sec Wall Squat isometric hold
Back: AMRAP Close Grip Strict Pull-ups 12/12

C.)
Legs: 15 Reverse Lunges/ leg(20#); rest 30 sec
Legs: 24 reps/side 3 & 9 O-Clock Lunges; tempo 21x1
Back: AMRAP Chin-up Strict 12/12

D.)
Legs: 20 reps /side Iky Lunges; rest 30 sec
Legs: 20 Sumo Hops (4 fwd, 4 bwd)
Back: AMRAP Switch Grip Pull-ups 12/9

BACK AT IT

Picture of me doing Tree Pose

I took a couple days off, from training and work because I was not feeling right mentally and physically. All I did on my weekend off was sleep, read, eat and some more sleep. Felt so nice to just lay down and pass out, I really needed some rest.

On Sunday morning I did do and hour and forty five minutes of Yoga. Yoga has helped me in so many ways, I recommend it to you all :-) After this session I was clear headed and ready to........you guessed it, eat and sleep! Yes I felt so good I chowed down on a great breakfast and then had a nice snooze on the couch!

It was also my girlfriend Katrina's birthday Saturday and we ate El Comal. Good eats! Katrina's mother was in town for her b-day as well. After we had dinner we went to BINGO! Yeah good times, but we did not win any money...close a couple times though.

Yesterday was my first day back at the gym.

A.) AMRAP Grip change each set Pull-ups X5 sets; 40sec rest

B.) KBS 5sets of 15reps unbroken (72# KB); 40sec rest
C.) HSPU 5 sets of 5reps Unbroken; 1min rest
D.) Ring Dips 5sets of 5reps, tempo 31X1; 1min rest

Cool Down with some low back and hamstring / calf stretches

OLD FISHY COUNTING COUPLET

This is the workout that I did at the Edmonton challenge where I placed 4th. Still to this day I thought my counter counted wrong and I think so did she. Oh well, now I know :-)
My clients and I did the same workout today:

As many Rounds in 20min of:
10 Chest to Floor Push-ups
10 Power Cleans 95#

My score today: 19 rounds + 10 reps

Old Edmonton Challenge score = 11 rounds + 12 reps....I knew something was fishy :-) None the less a friggen great workout and mental push at the end.

I think I can get over 20 rounds fresh. Back is still hurting from The Spartan 300 workout.

PS: On a cool note, my clients friggen rocked this out today! Way to go guys and gals, very impressive!

300 Spartan WOD

My clients and I did the Spartan 300 WOD today.
25 Pull-ups
50 Deadlifts 135#
50 BoxJumps 24" box
50 Bar Floor Wipers 135# (each touch counted as 1-middle-2-middle-3....)
50 25/arm KB Clean and Press 35#
25 Pull-ups

My Time = 12:09

Love this workout! I gassed big time on the box jumps.

OPT Champions Series #2

Felt good to compete again. I had only done one CF workout up to this event in the past month and a half. Yes this was my plan as I was programming myself to improve week spots in power, strength and flexibility.
I found that for the most part my training paid off. The second workout is still on my mind because when I finished I said to myself "fu$@ I could of done that way faster!". A learning lesson for sure as I was practicing the snatch series skills for the past month ( catching the squat snatch is a weakness of mine, but in this wod I nailed them.....faster next time ACTION & be confident in your skills!).
Always learning is key for your future competition, fitness and life adventures!
Had a great time in Calgary hanging out with my fellow Big Dawgs; they were all asking where I had been, why I have not been posting and to get my ass in gear because my face is on the Big Dawg poster for F#%K sakes....love those guys!.
Got to hang out with my Coach OPT for a bit and talk shop, love that!
The best part of the trip was watching my girlfriend kick some serious ASS! nice work Black Kat! Hey what are you going to do when you dye you hair blond again?

Here are the WOD's and my times:
Workout 1:
For power ratio:
Row 800 m
rest 5 min
SCORE = 2.05

Workout 2:
7 sets (95#/60#) for time;
Power Snatch x 1
Snatch Balance x 1
OHS x 1
Hang Squat Snatch x 1
rest 5 min
TIME: 3:39

Workout 3:
As many rounds (total reps) in 3 minutes;
3 chest to bar chin ups unbroken
3 push up burpees
rest 240 min
REPS = 48

Workout 4:
For time;
50 walking lunges
20 clean and jerk - 135#/95#
30 ring dips
25 wall balls - 20#/14# to 10ft
30 GHD Sit Ups
30 KBS - 1.5pd/1pd
75 double unders
TIME = 11:43